Life presents us with so many curious questions. How can we answer them all? We answer a few and then work our way up. Here we go!

Would you rather hear emotionally charged, heated lectures for hours on end, or a few brief, well-worded, carefully arranged suggestions?

Instead of trying to write a great first page, create interesting characters and let them do the work for you.

How to increase your word count when writing fiction.

Let your subtext hide within your story so it lingers at the back of your readers’ minds.

Instead of worrying about genre, authors should write what comes from their hearts and minds.

For your stories, you are the director, casting director, markup artist, and lighting technician.

You get only one short sentence to attract your readers.

The narrator does the unappreciated job of revealing the truth that the characters can't see.

The best story beginning is the simplest.

What did your mother always tell you?  “Don’t make a scene.”  She was wrong. 

Don't publish your story until you cannot change another word, and not until you have exhausted every resource available to you.

I think critics who use the phrase "Show, don't tell" are charlatans.

Why do I keep dreaming about these mountains?

It takes two to argue.  If one party declines to engage, the argument stops.

You can possess your readers by mastering only one technique. 

Most movies are eerily similar to other movies.  Nearly all romantic movies are the same story.

Would you want the people around you to treat you with wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance?

The idea that stories must have an exciting, action-packed beginning is false.

What do symphonic musical instruments sound like?

Here is my top-10 list of pop songs ever. But first, I’ll provide you with the criteria I used to select these songs.

Subtlety allows readers to think something else is going on, something hiding, something faintly suggested.

Beginning writers must learn that their readers can’t visualize what the author sees and feels unless the author tells them.

What happens when opposing views come into conflict? That’s when trouble appears.